


Paint My Life

by Emeli_Thorne



Series: My Forever Is Yours [1]
Category: The Walking Dead & Related Fandoms, The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Zombie Apocalypse, F/M, Fluff, a bit of smut, and his baby momma, domestic shane, he deserved better, he loves his baby girl, ofc this is, stupid canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-25
Updated: 2018-03-25
Packaged: 2019-04-08 00:26:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14093010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emeli_Thorne/pseuds/Emeli_Thorne
Summary: Shane's fiancée comes home from work to find him and their daughter having fun while painting her toenails.





	Paint My Life

**Author's Note:**

  * For [FFanon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FFanon/gifts).



> Just some domestic Shane and his family, inspired by a photo and my conversation with kteague over at tumblr. 
> 
> I hope you'll like it :)

 

Tess’ shift at the motel has just ended and taking her purse and cell phone, she heads to her car as exhaustion crawls up her body. The sun has just begun to set, painting the sky fiery red and orange, making it a beautiful sight to behold. Tess would appreciate it if she weren’t bone-tired and hungry. Stopping by the grocery store to pick up a few items she would be needing for dinner and waiting in line for five excruciatingly long minutes, she is finally on her way home.

Thankfully, the traffic is light and she manages to get to their house in less than ten minutes. Balancing the grocery bag on her hip and her overstuffed purse on her shoulder, she climbs up the stairs, stealing a glance in the direction of their living room to check if the lights are on.

They are, and as she unlocks the door and crosses the threshold, she is immediately bombarded with high-pitched giggles and chuckles coming from the living room. They seem to be unaware of her arrival so she leaves them be for the time being.

Smiling to herself, Tess’ first destination is the kitchen. She leaves the grocery bag on the counter then goes to take off her sneakers, leaving them on the shoe rack by the door and hanging her purse on the hook. The voices in the living room grow louder so instead of setting out to make dinner, she decides to follow the voices.

Reaching the living room, she leans against the doorframe and crosses her arms on her chest, eyes trained on her two favourite beings in the whole world: her fiancé Shane and their almost three-year-old daughter Sylvie.

Sylvie is seated on the dining table, one foot hanging off the table, the other in her father’s hand as he paints her toenails. Her honey-coloured hair is cascading in soft locks to her shoulders and she’s got her favourite baby blue pyjamas on.

Her beloved is wearing his usual black t-shirt, the one he always has on under his uniform. It doesn’t escape Tess' eyes the way his  biceps strains against the confinement of the t-shirt and the way his jaw looks absolutely delicious from this angle she wishes nothing more but to drag her tongue along that chiselled perfection.

“Is this okay?” Shane asks, lifting his head to look at Sylvie who leans forward to check his progress, face serious.

“Yeah, dada. Look pretty,” she claps her hands and giggles, her approval obviously making Shane happy since he laughs too and kisses the sole of her foot, blowing a raspberry. Sylvie’s little hands find their way to her daddy’s curly hair and she starts tugging at it, all the while still giggling and mumbling something.

“Were gonna let this dry, alright honey pie?” Shane’s voice is full of cheerfulness as he kisses her other foot and starts blowing on her toes to make the nail polish dry faster, telling her how beautiful her toenails look.

Tess soaks it all in, her little family having this little moment of theirs; she soaks in the way Shane’s eyes crinkle in amusement when Sylvie pats his cheek and tells him “You did good, dada” and the way he scoops her up in his arms once he’s sure the nail polish has dried and blows kisses all over her face.

“Love you, honey pie.”

“Love you two, dada,” she tells him, proudly displaying two fingers presumably to show him she loves him more since she’s not yet aware of the difference between two and too.

Tess’ back starts hurting and as much as she’d like to stay there and watch this adorable exchange between her fiancé and their daughter, she’s tired and needs some love too.

“Hey, you two. What have you been up to?” She walks up to the chair Shane’s sitting on with Sylvie in his lap and her heart jumps in her chest when her eyes meet with Shane’s alit with so much love and tenderness.

“Hey, sweetheart. We were paintin’ this young lady’s toes.”

Sylvie cackles and motions for Tess to pick her up. As soon as she does that, Sylvie nuzzles her face against her mother’s neck, her arms wrapped around Tess neck. She smells of coconut and her hair is slightly wet, indicating that Shane had already given her a bath. God, she loves him.

“And where did you find this nail polish?” Tess questions looking down at Sylvie, though she knows the answer already.

Her daughter squirms in her arms and lifts her head, giving her mother her patented _Walsh look,_ as Tess likes to call it. The same look Shane gives her when he does something he knows wasn’t right or if he forgot something she told him to do or get, and hopes she would forgive him.

Biting her lip, her gaze soft and innocent, Sylvie says, “I find it!”

Arching her brow, Tess tries to look stern because if she laughs and lets this fly by, she knows it will only encourage Sylvie in her explorations and sometimes dangerous adventures around the house.

“And where exactly have you found it?”

Bowing her head, Sylvie looks at her dad who is suppressing a grin as best as he can, but Tess knows how weak he is when it comes to their daughter. They’ll have to have a serious talk regarding this later.

“Have you been going through mommy’s things?” Tess probes again, but instead of her daughter, it’s Shane that answers, rubbing Sylvie’s foot.

“We found it on the floor of mommy and dada’s room, right, honey pie? And we thought it would look so pretty on this lady. And look, momma, how pretty it is!” he points to Sylvie’s toenails which are blood-red. However, Shane seems to have done a good job since there is little to no nail polish around her toenails. The precision with which he executed this task warms her chest, but Tess can’t afford these two to be this rebellious, no matter how cute they are and how much she loves them.

“Now, Sylvie, dada, remember what we promised last time?”

“No touching momma stuff!” Sylvie exclaims, accentuating every word with a firm nod of her head making her curls bounce around her chubby face.

“That’s right, pumpkin. So, are you going to do it again?”

Tess looks up at Shane who has now snaked his arm around her, effectively pulling her against his side, his lips brushing Tess’ temple. He smells so wonderful that she almost lets herself get lost in it. Almost.

“Momma, you angry?” Sylvie whispers, crossing her fingers together nervously.

Kissing her cheek, Tess tells her, “Just a little bit,” because she too is weak when it comes to this hell raiser.

“Me in towble?”

Tess nods just as Shane’s lips land on her naked shoulder, raising goosebumps along her skin and making her dizzy. She elbows him and he chuckles, hiding his face in her neck. “You and daddy both. But We’ll talk tomorrow, okay? Are you sleepy?”

Sylvie nods and Tess goes to put her to sleep which takes about twenty minutes, during which Tess sings her daughter’s favourite lullaby until she feels her baby’s hot breath against her collar bone and her soft snores.

After she comes back to the living room, Shane is already in his uniform, picking up his badge from the coffee table and his car keys. He must have given them to Sylvie to play with. Tess comes behind him and kisses him between the shoulder blades, regretting he was dressed already because there are few things better than the sensation of his skin against her lips.

“I’m so mad at you,” she mumbles against his back and feels him before hearing him laugh, his whole body vibrating.

“Oh you are?” he asks with a hint of teasing as he turns around, planting his hands firmly on her hips, his forehead against hers.

“Yeah. You can’t indulge her in everything.”

“But you should have seen how happy she was! She came runnin’ into the kitchen yellin’ _dada dada paint my toes_! How could I’ve said no?”

The patented _Walsh look_ is there when their gazes meet and this time Tess does smile, her arms finding their way around his neck as she brushes her lips against his. Shane doesn’t let her pull back, doesn’t let this be a casual and slow kiss. Instead, his kiss in hungry, starving and Tess surrenders because she craved them, _him_ , the whole day today and she’d be damned if she played coy now.

Shane lifts her in his arms and she hooks her legs around him easily. She can barely refrain from dry humping him but they don’t have time to do anything but kissing. So much kissing.

His fingers get tangled in her short hair, his breath is hot on her neck and Tess moans so loudly she’s afraid she woke up Sylvie. Her mind’s a blur though as Shane presses her against the wall separating the hallway and the living room, his hand going under her shirt, his fingers brushing over her breast.

As much as she’d like to continue this, it’s getting late and Shane’s already lost the track of time, she’s sure. “Baby. Baby, you’re gonna be late to work,” she tells him with a breathy voice between kisses.

Shane groans and reluctantly puts her down but doesn’t separate their lips for another couple of minutes.

“You gave her a bath,” Tess says, combing her fingers through his soft curly hair and feels him grin.

He nods, “yep, I knew you’d be tired. I made dinner too.”

Tess kisses his jaw, resting her head on his chest as he wraps his arms around her and presses her against him, “Always takin’ care of us.”

Kissing the top of her head, Shane exhales loudly, and Tess understand he doesn’t want to go. Doesn’t want to but has to. It’s his job. Shane hates night shifts as much as she does, but it gets paid more and right now, they need as much money as they can get.

“Gotta take care of my girls. Eat and get some sleep, darlin’. I’ll be back in the morning,” he cups her face, eyes soaking her in. He’s goofy and stubborn, but so attentive and caring. He’s a great father and Tess couldn’t imagine sharing her life with anyone else.

“Okay, baby. Be careful, please. Come back to me in one piece,” she implores, holding back tears, knowing he doesn’t need the image of her crying in his mind the whole night.

“Love you, sweetheart. Get some rest.”

Shane kisses her one more time before he leaves the house, his keys clinking against the badge in his hand.

Tess decides to shower to take the day’s grime and sweat off her body then takes a few bites of the chicken and potato pie her fiancé made before she collapses on the bed, hugging Shane’s pillow to her chest.

*    *    *    *    *

Rick and Shane are sitting in their patrol car sipping their coffee, ears strained on the scanner. Their little town was usually quiet, but one never knows what might happen.

Shane’s about to take a package of gums out of his pocket when he catches Rick’s gaze fixed on his hand.

“Is that blood?”

Looking down, Shane notices for the first time the red adorning the back of his hand. Laughing he says,

“Nah. My baby girl wanted her toes painted. They must’ve brushed against my hand.”

Rick’s eyebrows shoot to his forehead, a bewildered expression on his face. “You, Shane Walsh, painted your daughter’s toenails?”

Rolling his eyes at Rick, Shane just shrugs, putting a gum in his mouth. “Well, you said it. She’s my daughter. I do whatever she asks of me.”

Rick shakes his head and laughs focusing his eyes on the road ahead of them.

“Who would have thought...”

**Author's Note:**

> I might add to it if I get more inspiration :D  
> Find me on tumblr at lightblindingme


End file.
